I pulled out my cell and texted Ace. Tonight. Meet. No reply came and my mind wandered back to Kamal. He had a girlfriend or a wife, Marni, out there. Something was wrong with her, and that’s why he worked so hard.
I wondered how many pickers had similar situations and felt they had to do what they were doing. It was true that it was still a choice. There were honest ways to make money, and lying, cheating, and stealing did not fit into that category. Sure, you had to be smarter than the average crook, but the path of least resistance was often fatal. I hoped Kamal would survive to help the person, the girl, on the other end of the phone. His scar flashed through my mind.
Still no response from Ace.
I listened at the door and took another look around the room. I assumed Marni had never been here. There was only a twin bed. He’d come here for the express purpose of making money for this girl. Maybe whatever was wrong with her made her unable to travel. I needed to get my hands on his phone so we could trace and listen to his calls. As much as I didn’t want to, we might have to use this girl to get him to spill his guts about where the flash drives went. Did I want this to happen? While Siron didn’t like torturing people or threatening them, it seemed this drive would be something that would make her look the other way. I’d tuck that information away for right now.
I made a final mental snapshot of the room so that I would be able to easily navigate all the easels and art supplies without light. I hoped he wouldn’t move anything until after I came back to bug his phone.
It was weird how the knowledge of Kamal’s motivation made me see him differently. On the one hand, it really bothered me that he was using me the way he was. On the other, I wanted to help him help the girl. If the police caught up with him, what would happen to her?
Before reaching my apartment, I got a text back from Ace. The meeting was on. I got dressed for a day of picking as Eva and met Kamal at the Louvre.
“I’ve got someone really interested in drives right now. Let’s give him what he wants.”
“Okay,” I said and by the end of the day, I’d given him four.
“Good girl,” Kamal said, “Let’s get a repeat of today, tomorrow.”
“Will do,” I said before leaving to catch the train home.
***
I paced my small living room. Five strides in one direction and five back. At ten on the dot, Halluis and Ace walked into the apartment from the balcony.
“We’ve got a big problem,” I said as the two took seats on the couch. “There’s a buyer out there offering triple the usual payout for certain flash drives.”
“What?” the two said in unison.
“I overheard a conversation between Kamal and his flash drive buyer. The buyer told Kamal flash drives are going for a premium right now. Kamal promised him about ten.”
“Not good,” Ace said. “This changes everything.” He put his elbows on his knees and cradled his chin with his hands.
“I’m going to need a lot of help from you two in order to beat this guy to it,” I said. “In four days the drives are gone, which means we have less than that. But first, Halluis, tell me what you found out in Coulogne. Maybe there’s something there to help us.”
“Dufor’s sister is a real sweetheart. She definitely needed someone to talk to. Dufor had a nephew named Henri. Yes, he was named after Mr. Henri Dufor. His nephew was killed in Paris a few years back in a murder that was never solved. The boy had gotten himself involved with some shadier elements and his body was found with its hands cut off and some symbol carved into his face.
I gasped. “I watched Kamal take a knife to a boy who’d stolen something in Kamal’s area. Was little Henri a pickpocket?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, the murder was never solved. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure his mom would be able to hold it together long enough to finish the story, but she did. She had a really close relationship with Dufor. I mean seriously, the she named her only son after Henri. She’s devastated, can hardly live a normal life now. Her son stabbed and what happens to Dufor? He’s stabbed too. Besides misery for this lady, we don’t have much information to go on. I basically got nothing more. I really felt for her.”
“Shoot, I was hoping…”
“I know, but it was a dead end.” Halluis frowned.
“Let’s make a plan and hit this thing hard together tomorrow.”
“I’ll see if I can’t get us some listening devices and—” Ace rubbed his chin.
“I already planted some homemade ones.” I leaned forward, excited to let them know I had already thought of that.
“And who’s going to listen?” Halluis huffed.
“I will, I guess,” Ace said, totally serious.
“In all that free time Siron’s been sending your way?” Halluis scoffed.
“Touché,” Ace said. “We’ll have to find the time, though. We don’t have a choice. And we need to replace the bugs Christy so deftly placed with better ones. No offense, Christy.”
“None taken. You’ll have all the time in the world once we get that drive,” I said. “Since the things Siron has you doing aren’t helping at all, put them to the side, ignore them for a couple of days. You won’t be losing anything, right? Just tell her nothing is panning out.”
Halluis scrunched up his nose. “You’ve worked with Siron, she’s a hoverer. She’s on top of what we are doing nine times out of ten. No. I have a solution and you’re not going to like it. I think we need Division on this
